Since Ford Motor Company reported a complete Q4 / 2020 fiscal year report with a loss of $2.8 Billion but a doubling of R&D on EVs to $22 Billion from $11 Billion and a $7 Billion for EV Autonomous driving, the auto reporters are asking this very question: Is this a Shot across gm's bow or is it targeted more broadly across the whole industry as everyone wants to take sales away or greatly slow down Tesla.
Tesla's valuation appears to be based on investors putting money with new technology seems to be driving changes of the future. 
gm has now committed to moving into the technology camp with a solid date of when new ICE auto's will no longer be produced as the whole portfolio will change over to EV's. Ford also is now committing to this same strategy. This now makes one wonder about the rest of the auto industry.
Stellantis CEO did an interview with Forbes that has put cold water on Peugeot coming to the US in the near term future as he wants to invest in the existing US name brands and grow their 12.7% market share. He also said that Stellantis has the manufacturing power and EV technology, but getting it into the hands of everyone is the concern at reasonable prices. Stellantis CEO says this is in the hands of the various global governments as he wants cleaner air and believes diesel the dirtiest of fuels will die off before regular petrol and where dictated by governments such as China and Europe will see a faster change over than other countries. Yet with the change in administration in the US, he says this could move the Stellantis brands to move into the full EV camp at a future date.
Then we have small countries that have decided to make a major change in moving the country into EVs way sooner than other places and killing ICE sales like Thailand. This will allow local Thai startups to compete for the first time with international companies that also do not have anything in the market yet. 
With a large range of battery plants coming online over the next 18 months, the move to EVs could happen at a pace that took decades for ICE in the early 1900's.
So this brings this back to the original question, Is Fords Doubling commitment to EV's and moving ICE into the last generation like GM a shot across GM's bow or a shot at the whole industry to say, look at us, we are moving into a Technology driven auto company and our stock should be much higher like Tesla's.
Currently gm is valued at just under $80 Billion, Ford is valued at $40 Billion, Tesla is valued at $807 Billion, Toyota is valued at $155.5 Billion, Stellantis is valued at $50.5 Billion, Daimler is valued at $71 Billion, BMW valued at $46 and VW is valued at $90.7 Billion and while there are plenty of other auto companies, one has to wonder what Ford is focused on with the drastic change and speeding up of moving to EVs as a complete global portfolio.
Sound off and discuss how, what, where and when you think this will have it's big affect.
Charged EVs | Is Ford’s increase in EV investment a shot across GM’s bow? - Charged EVs
Stellantis CEO Reveals Peugeot U.S. Fate, Job Security, EV Conflict (forbes.com)
Future Toyotas, Stellantis, batteries and EVs - the week | Automotive Industry Comment | just-auto (just-auto.com)

We've been reporting on Ford's upcoming truck, the Maverick since 2018. The truck would sit underneath the Ranger and become the entry-level model for the brand. Now, we have gotten our best look at what it will look like.
The Maverick Truck Club forum got its hand on an image showing a prototype Maverick on the line reportedly at Ford's Hermosillo, Mexico plant. Up front, the Maverick borrows some ideas from the Bronco Sport with C-shaped headlights and a horizontal bar splitting the grille. We don't know if Ford is planning to offer any cab configurations aside from the crew-cab seen in the photo.
Ford did not immediately reply to comment on this when reached out by Roadshow. 
The Maverick is expected to use the C2 architecture which underpins the new Escape and Bronco Sport. Autoblog speculates there could be two rear suspension setups based on spy shots that show a mule with twist-beam style setup with no rear differential for the front-wheel driver version. A slightly beefier setup might be used for the all-wheel drive version.
Right now, everyone seems to think that the Maverick could debut as a 2022 model year vehicle.  
Source: Maverick Truck Club, Roadshow, Autoblog
Pic Credit: Maverick Truck Club


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We've been reporting on Ford's upcoming truck, the Maverick since 2018. The truck would sit underneath the Ranger and become the entry-level model for the brand. Now, we have gotten our best look at what it will look like.
The Maverick Truck Club forum got its hand on an image showing a prototype Maverick on the line reportedly at Ford's Hermosillo, Mexico plant. Up front, the Maverick borrows some ideas from the Bronco Sport with C-shaped headlights and a horizontal bar splitting the grille. We don't know if Ford is planning to offer any cab configurations aside from the crew-cab seen in the photo.
Ford did not immediately reply to comment on this when reached out by Roadshow. 
The Maverick is expected to use the C2 architecture which underpins the new Escape and Bronco Sport. Autoblog speculates there could be two rear suspension setups based on spy shots that show a mule with twist-beam style setup with no rear differential for the front-wheel driver version. A slightly beefier setup might be used for the all-wheel drive version.
Right now, everyone seems to think that the Maverick could debut as a 2022 model year vehicle.  
Source: Maverick Truck Club, Roadshow, Autoblog
Pic Credit: Maverick Truck Club

The COVID-19 pandemic has possibly caused another auto show to rethink their plans. According to Automotive News, organizers of the show are planning to delay the show from November to next May. Three sources tell the outlet the new dates are May 21st to 31st. Two of sources go on to say that an announcement could come this week.
Automotive News tried to get comment from Terri Toennies, president of the show, but did not reply.
By possibly moving the LA Auto Show to May, automakers and organizers of the New York and Detroit shows find themselves in a difficult spot. The LA show sandwiches between New York (April) and the revised Detroit show (June), which may cause automakers to make difficult decisions as to which shows get the most significant unveilings or whether to attend at all.
Auto shows in general have been struggling before the onset of the pandemic. With automakers deciding to hold their own events to have more time in the spotlight and save cash, the spectacle of the show has gone down.
We'll keep you posted.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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